DINOFLAGELLATE CYSTS ASSEMBLAGE, ABUNDANCE, AND DISTRIBUTION AT THREE ESTUARIES OF BONE BAY, SOUTH SULAWESI, INDONESIA
Nita Rukminasari 1*, Indra Junaidi Zakaria 2, Sapto Andriyono 3, and Andi Aliyah Hidayani 1

Faculty of Marine Science and Fisheries, Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

The main group of primary production component in the freshwater and marine ecosystems are dinoflagellates. This phytoplankton group is importance due to several species could produce a toxin and could develop the occurrence of harmful-algal-blooms (HABs) worldwide. Thirty-six surface sediment samples were collected from three estuaries of Bone Bay (Teko, Tangka dan Panyula Estuary) and dinoflagellates cysts were analyzed. The aim of study was to determine species assemblages, distribution, diversity, richness, and abundance of dinoflagellate cysts. Multivariate analysis was conducted to examine species assemblages, diversity and richness. Eighteen taxa in 11 genera and from 8 families of dinoflagellate cysts were identified. Three most abundance species of dinoflagellate cysts were Alexandrium minutum, Pentapharsodinium tyrrhenicum, and Scrippsiella lachrymosa. There was a species assemblages variation between sampling sites and there was not shifting of autotroph species of dinoflagellate cyst to heterotroph species, it showed that at Bone Bay eutrophication and industrial pollution was not yet occurred. based on the species richness and diversity, Bone Bay was categorized as oligotrophic waters.

Keywords: Abundance and distribution, Bone Bay, dinoflagellate cyst, South Sulawesi, species assemblages.

Topic: Aquatic Biodiversity